Used properly, computers can be a very valuable resource in any classroom. They're not a specialized tool, like a calculator, that can only be used in certain, well-defined fashion - they're generic tools.
Most everyone in a given college classroom has at least passing familiarity with web-browsing and basic messaging systems (whether IM or forums), and so, unlike other posters have suggested, there should not be much of a learning curve.
From weblogs, to real-time commenting on what's going on in class, to anonymous questions (useful if someone in the class is shy about asking, for example, a question about grammar), to a million other possibilities, computers should definitely be used by a resourceful teacher.
A creative use of the computers in the classroom will definitely be better than a bunch of bored students wishing they could just suft the net or IM...
Sam Goodie, on the other hand, is simply awful. The prices are higher than any other chain, and every time I walk into one I feel like I'm in a generic mall shop instead of a store that is part of the music culture. No thank you.
If you're implying that Tower or Virgin are, even a little bit in the 'music culture', you're definitely wrong. I can't say anything about Hear Music, because I've never seen one, but Tower and Virgin just peddle you the same crap over and over again. Their 'indie' or 'non-mainstream' stuff is a wasteland... It's full of hip-sounding music with no substance, albumns from artists that used to be actually good but now have started to suck and are trying to 'hit it big' to compensate, or absolutely random, though sometimes good picks that come out of nowhere, with no culture or context.
True music culture happens in small record stores, stores owned by labels and/or producers/musicians, stores frequented by music profesionals or DJs, or the Internet (which can offer really good music that does not come from your area).
Engineers, programmers, and other techies also love doing things 'the hard way' because... well... it's just more interesting that way.
Sure I use Nautilus to move files and whatnot, but no, it's a command line for me.
And yes, people who are very good at driving can use stick and fine tune their cars, but for someone like me, getting to the destination, getting there fast, and getting there safe are more important than tinkering with that particular piece of technology.
I think many/.ers have a negative view of new technology because they see old technology as 'the good old days' and want everyone to share their love for whats under the hood. However, this does not mean that the new technology is any worse than the new technology...
Except that when a company donates books, it controls exactly how many books are given and and (approximately) what their uses will be (e.i. with a library, people will not be able to keep the book). With P2P, there is no control.
Also, companies get to take huge tax-write-offs for donated books... Again, no such luck with P2P.
One the systems on my home LAN is 'quark' and another other is 'gluon'... My [main] laptop is 'neutrino', though, so there needs to be some sort of 'quark-gluon neutrino-augmented plasma' to make me totally cool:-)
Security experts are paid to think or scenarios that could actually happen.
Until 9/11, you would've said the same thing about airplanes flying into buildings.
I'm also rather skeptical of the statement that it will take infinite resources to clog the Post Office (and it definitely would not take an infinite amount of resources to clog the internal post offices of corporations or government offices).
Just as its a good idea for sys admins to think about their networks' response to [D]DoS attacks, it's probably a good idea for corporations/government offices to think about how to respond to physical DoS attacks (whether it be from terrorists or kids). If inserting the word 'terrorism' is the only way things get done these days, so be it. Note that I'm not supporting that mind set, I'm simply saying that the word 'terrorism' carries a big stick behind it, and often the only way to get policy makers to do something/anything is to somehow tie it up to terrorism...
If only there existed a tie between the RIAA and terrorism...
Rubin isn't proposing that we ban anything. He's simply pointing out that such possibilities exist. Security experts are paid to think up of unlikely, yet problematic scenarios, and he's doing exactly that. His statement WAS insightful, and doesn't all have to do with terrorism, but rather with disruption of service (which is one of the subheaders of terrorism).
And yes, cars and power tools can be used for evil too (see Oklahoma City bombing), and so can pencils and scissors. However no one is rushing out there to ban any of those things! In fact, as far as I understand, signing people up for junk mail is mail fraud and is already illegal.
The guy simply made a statement that has real value (it's not trivial, and I bet you didn't think of the possiblity) and may have scholarly reprecussions within security circles, or somehow factor into decisions of policy-makers.
Anyway, point being the man was simply making a true statement. If you see his statement being spun out of control by politicians or enforcement agencies or something, then you can get angry at them.
Keeping your eyes on the road isn't the issue. It's where your attention is. People w/ cellphones (even the handless ones) are more likely to get into car accidents not because their eyes are not in the road, but because they're not concentrating on their driving.
In the December 2001 issue of Dr. Dobbs, Ed Nisley, the writer of the "Embedded Space" column, examined the safety of in-car electronics. In specific, he examined the amount of time it takes the avg. person to read a display or press a button, vs. how much distance a car would travel at about 40 mph, 60, or 70 mph. The results are not good. A poorly designed piece of in-car electronics would probably kill much more people than driving with cellphones. A well-designed piece of in-car electronics would probably fare just a little bit better.
Also remember a formula from physics:
KE = (1/2)(m)(v^2)
and the conservation of linear momentum.
Play around with the numbers. Like Nisley says "You may be terrified at the results".
SOAP is also much lighter and easier to use than most of the other solutions out there (e.i. CORBA, XML RPC).
Yes, SOAP definitely tunnels through firewalls, but this is for a good reason - you don't need to open up any extra holes in your firewall. W/ every other method you need to poke holes in odd ports, and often that's not an option or in the end less secure than letting SOAP take HTTP.
Why do such a big number of people on/. think that 'Joe Public' needs every issue super-watered down and spoon fed to them? It's very important to a democracy to have an educated public. Granted, the average person should not be able to wade through hardcore legalese or patch his own kernel, but a basic knowledge of law is ESSENTIAL for any citizen. Plus, the above poster is proposing that someone make a paper that
make Joe Public think "Omighod, that could happen to me!!" THAT would be much more informative and convincing to the average person who doesn't follow the legal incidents and issues on a daily basis.
So not only are we spoon-feeding people now, but we're making decisions FOR THEM of how pieces of legislation affect them too.
What we need is a better educated (e.i. able to understand the basic principles of law and able to formulate their own opinions) public, and until we get that the DCMA will stand. So instead of CNNing political issues, why don't we go and teach someone a little about copyright law so that they are better equipped to fight the battle, even after the DMCA.
This is why I think the magazine National Geographic is so good. It, very often, gives you a true flavor of life in another place, not the 'check out the new3st tourist spotz!' view of many travel magazines.
National Geographic gives you insight into a country's political, economical, and often geographical factors, allowing you to better understand what makes the country tick when you see it on the news.
No one is forcing you to use Open Source or Free Software. It's simply an option for you to choose, should you wish to do that.
If you believe you cannot get a piece of OS/FS software working without extensive documentation and customer support, that's fine and you can easily purchase a commercial piece of software (Yes, RMS would be mad, but oh well). On other other hand, as someone who's set up Apache, Tomcat, SSL, and a plethora of other relatively complicated pieces of software without much more than the included docs, I can tell you that this also works for many people.
Plus, I often find that docs for OS/FS software is an order of maginutude more complete (and technically relevant) that comprable manuals for many off-the-shelf software packages. Also, some IRC channels, like #debian can give you much faster and better tech support that many professional companies.
Either way, my point is that no one is forcing you to use this Open Source or Free Software. It's simply there as a choice, and, as well all remember, choices are good.
If anyone is interested in a programming contest for high school kids, check out USACO (USA Computing Olympiad). They have contests throughout the year (any country can participate) which lead up to the US Open (only US participates), a 5 hour, proctored contest which then determines eligibility to go to IOI (The Computer Science World Olympiad Training Camp) from which a few kids are chosen every year to represent the US in world competitions.
The contest style is very similar to the ACM (solve n problems in m hours) and often very interesting problems are given (just because it's high school, doesn't mean the kids are stupid:-).
If anyone is a computer science geek in high school or a teacher of CS in a high school, you should definitely check it out.
The only problem is that C++ is reeeally difficult to properly use, even for a seasoned programmer. Everyone can code a relatively simple program in C++, but once you start messing w/ templates, STL, multiple inheritance, etc, it gets really difficult to write proper, maintainable code that also runs fast. If you already know C++, great, then it's all a go, but if you'll have to learn it, be prepared to do some intensive training...
Personally, I preffer Java as it has many of the features that make C++ great but without a lot of the extra fluff (and C++ templates are easily replaced by Java interfaces, so it's all good). Most common Enterprise problems can be easily solved (or at least modeled) in Java and with the maturing of technologies such as JMS, JTS, JDBC, CORBA, SOAP, XML-everything, and (to a certain degree) EJBs, most of the code has already been writen for you!
Instead of wasting your time playing a game that lets you mimick life, why not take a stab a life itself? Feel like going to a bar in a virtual world? Why not go to one in the real, physical world, where your date, if you pick one up may actually be REAL. I understand the concept for a MUD where you get to kill monsters, etc, but this game emulates LIFE. It's good as an AI project, but please people, you don't need to EMULATE life in order to LIVE life!
Is it just me, or did the X-Files become completely unwatchable the season that Mulder left (and even for a season or two before it was REALLY REALLY BAD(TM)).
The plot line went from being a very interesting, intriquate work of art in seasons 1 and 2 to a hack-n-slash piece of crap in the later seasons...
I hope Carter can go back to the roots and make something really watchable that once again makes me want to turn on that box in the living room for something other than Big Media News and the occasional Simpsons/Family Guy/Futurama.
I'm 17. I've been working in the IT field (a REAL, paying job) for two years now. Therefore when I'll be 1 week from being 20, I'll have 5 years of experience as well. These days I see kids (in high school) even younger trying (and sometimes succeeding) in getting jobs.
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Used properly, computers can be a very valuable resource in any classroom. They're not a specialized tool, like a calculator, that can only be used in certain, well-defined fashion - they're generic tools.
Most everyone in a given college classroom has at least passing familiarity with web-browsing and basic messaging systems (whether IM or forums), and so, unlike other posters have suggested, there should not be much of a learning curve.
From weblogs, to real-time commenting on what's going on in class, to anonymous questions (useful if someone in the class is shy about asking, for example, a question about grammar), to a million other possibilities, computers should definitely be used by a resourceful teacher.
A creative use of the computers in the classroom will definitely be better than a bunch of bored students wishing they could just suft the net or IM...
Remember that everything you read in the occult field you have to take with a large grain of salt
:-)
Or, in McKenna's case, smoked with a large grain of DMT
Sam Goodie, on the other hand, is simply awful. The prices are higher than any other chain, and every time I walk into one I feel like I'm in a generic mall shop instead of a store that is part of the music culture. No thank you.
If you're implying that Tower or Virgin are, even a little bit in the 'music culture', you're definitely wrong. I can't say anything about Hear Music, because I've never seen one, but Tower and Virgin just peddle you the same crap over and over again. Their 'indie' or 'non-mainstream' stuff is a wasteland... It's full of hip-sounding music with no substance, albumns from artists that used to be actually good but now have started to suck and are trying to 'hit it big' to compensate, or absolutely random, though sometimes good picks that come out of nowhere, with no culture or context.
True music culture happens in small record stores, stores owned by labels and/or producers/musicians, stores frequented by music profesionals or DJs, or the Internet (which can offer really good music that does not come from your area).
Engineers, programmers, and other techies also love doing things 'the hard way' because... well... it's just more interesting that way.
/.ers have a negative view of new technology because they see old technology as 'the good old days' and want everyone to share their love for whats under the hood. However, this does not mean that the new technology is any worse than the new technology...
Sure I use Nautilus to move files and whatnot, but no, it's a command line for me.
And yes, people who are very good at driving can use stick and fine tune their cars, but for someone like me, getting to the destination, getting there fast, and getting there safe are more important than tinkering with that particular piece of technology.
I think many
Except that when a company donates books, it controls exactly how many books are given and and (approximately) what their uses will be (e.i. with a library, people will not be able to keep the book). With P2P, there is no control.
Also, companies get to take huge tax-write-offs for donated books... Again, no such luck with P2P.
One the systems on my home LAN is 'quark' and another other is 'gluon'... My [main] laptop is 'neutrino', though, so there needs to be some sort of 'quark-gluon neutrino-augmented plasma' to make me totally cool :-)
Errr.. I actually meant the band. The hardcore punk band. That rocks.
Security experts are paid to think or scenarios that could actually happen.
Until 9/11, you would've said the same thing about airplanes flying into buildings.
I'm also rather skeptical of the statement that it will take infinite resources to clog the Post Office (and it definitely would not take an infinite amount of resources to clog the internal post offices of corporations or government offices).
Just as its a good idea for sys admins to think about their networks' response to [D]DoS attacks, it's probably a good idea for corporations/government offices to think about how to respond to physical DoS attacks (whether it be from terrorists or kids). If inserting the word 'terrorism' is the only way things get done these days, so be it. Note that I'm not supporting that mind set, I'm simply saying that the word 'terrorism' carries a big stick behind it, and often the only way to get policy makers to do something/anything is to somehow tie it up to terrorism...
If only there existed a tie between the RIAA and terrorism...
I miss their shows all of the time because I'm in college (it's like they try to play at the worst possible times!)
Rubin isn't proposing that we ban anything. He's simply pointing out that such possibilities exist. Security experts are paid to think up of unlikely, yet problematic scenarios, and he's doing exactly that. His statement WAS insightful, and doesn't all have to do with terrorism, but rather with disruption of service (which is one of the subheaders of terrorism).
And yes, cars and power tools can be used for evil too (see Oklahoma City bombing), and so can pencils and scissors. However no one is rushing out there to ban any of those things! In fact, as far as I understand, signing people up for junk mail is mail fraud and is already illegal.
The guy simply made a statement that has real value (it's not trivial, and I bet you didn't think of the possiblity) and may have scholarly reprecussions within security circles, or somehow factor into decisions of policy-makers.
Anyway, point being the man was simply making a true statement. If you see his statement being spun out of control by politicians or enforcement agencies or something, then you can get angry at them.
Keeping your eyes on the road isn't the issue. It's where your attention is. People w/ cellphones (even the handless ones) are more likely to get into car accidents not because their eyes are not in the road, but because they're not concentrating on their driving.
In the December 2001 issue of Dr. Dobbs, Ed Nisley, the writer of the "Embedded Space" column, examined the safety of in-car electronics. In specific, he examined the amount of time it takes the avg. person to read a display or press a button, vs. how much distance a car would travel at about 40 mph, 60, or 70 mph. The results are not good. A poorly designed piece of in-car electronics would probably kill much more people than driving with cellphones. A well-designed piece of in-car electronics would probably fare just a little bit better.
Also remember a formula from physics:
KE = (1/2)(m)(v^2)
and the conservation of linear momentum.
Play around with the numbers. Like Nisley says "You may be terrified at the results".
---
SOAP is also much lighter and easier to use than most of the other solutions out there (e.i. CORBA, XML RPC).
Yes, SOAP definitely tunnels through firewalls, but this is for a good reason - you don't need to open up any extra holes in your firewall. W/ every other method you need to poke holes in odd ports, and often that's not an option or in the end less secure than letting SOAP take HTTP.
Why do such a big number of people on /. think that 'Joe Public' needs every issue super-watered down and spoon fed to them? It's very important to a democracy to have an educated public. Granted, the average person should not be able to wade through hardcore legalese or patch his own kernel, but a basic knowledge of law is ESSENTIAL for any citizen. Plus, the above poster is proposing that someone make a paper that
make Joe Public think "Omighod, that could happen to me!!" THAT would be much more informative and convincing to the average person who doesn't follow the legal incidents and issues on a daily basis.
So not only are we spoon-feeding people now, but we're making decisions FOR THEM of how pieces of legislation affect them too.
What we need is a better educated (e.i. able to understand the basic principles of law and able to formulate their own opinions) public, and until we get that the DCMA will stand. So instead of CNNing political issues, why don't we go and teach someone a little about copyright law so that they are better equipped to fight the battle, even after the DMCA.
This is why I think the magazine National Geographic is so good. It, very often, gives you a true flavor of life in another place, not the 'check out the new3st tourist spotz!' view of many travel magazines.
National Geographic gives you insight into a country's political, economical, and often geographical factors, allowing you to better understand what makes the country tick when you see it on the news.
No one is forcing you to use Open Source or Free Software. It's simply an option for you to choose, should you wish to do that.
If you believe you cannot get a piece of OS/FS software working without extensive documentation and customer support, that's fine and you can easily purchase a commercial piece of software (Yes, RMS would be mad, but oh well). On other other hand, as someone who's set up Apache, Tomcat, SSL, and a plethora of other relatively complicated pieces of software without much more than the included docs, I can tell you that this also works for many people.
Plus, I often find that docs for OS/FS software is an order of maginutude more complete (and technically relevant) that comprable manuals for many off-the-shelf software packages. Also, some IRC channels, like #debian can give you much faster and better tech support that many professional companies.
Either way, my point is that no one is forcing you to use this Open Source or Free Software. It's simply there as a choice, and, as well all remember, choices are good.
If anyone is interested in a programming contest for high school kids, check out USACO (USA Computing Olympiad). They have contests throughout the year (any country can participate) which lead up to the US Open (only US participates), a 5 hour, proctored contest which then determines eligibility to go to IOI (The Computer Science World Olympiad Training Camp) from which a few kids are chosen every year to represent the US in world competitions.
:-).
The contest style is very similar to the ACM (solve n problems in m hours) and often very interesting problems are given (just because it's high school, doesn't mean the kids are stupid
If anyone is a computer science geek in high school or a teacher of CS in a high school, you should definitely check it out.
With the slow economy, you can easily hire a programmer or two to whip up a low-cost custom solution really quickly :-)
The only problem is that C++ is reeeally difficult to properly use, even for a seasoned programmer. Everyone can code a relatively simple program in C++, but once you start messing w/ templates, STL, multiple inheritance, etc, it gets really difficult to write proper, maintainable code that also runs fast. If you already know C++, great, then it's all a go, but if you'll have to learn it, be prepared to do some intensive training...
Personally, I preffer Java as it has many of the features that make C++ great but without a lot of the extra fluff (and C++ templates are easily replaced by Java interfaces, so it's all good). Most common Enterprise problems can be easily solved (or at least modeled) in Java and with the maturing of technologies such as JMS, JTS, JDBC, CORBA, SOAP, XML-everything, and (to a certain degree) EJBs, most of the code has already been writen for you!
Instead of wasting your time playing a game that lets you mimick life, why not take a stab a life itself? Feel like going to a bar in a virtual world? Why not go to one in the real, physical world, where your date, if you pick one up may actually be REAL.
I understand the concept for a MUD where you get to kill monsters, etc, but this game emulates LIFE. It's good as an AI project, but please people, you don't need to EMULATE life in order to LIVE life!
Moderate down on whim.
Is it just me, or did the X-Files become completely unwatchable the season that Mulder left (and even for a season or two before it was REALLY REALLY BAD(TM)).
The plot line went from being a very interesting, intriquate work of art in seasons 1 and 2 to a hack-n-slash piece of crap in the later seasons...
I hope Carter can go back to the roots and make something really watchable that once again makes me want to turn on that box in the living room for something other than Big Media News and the occasional Simpsons/Family Guy/Futurama.
Not true at all.
2.4 was touted as having a much better VM (and seems to, under most circumstances) as well as scheduler, etc.
Minor releases are those that get new hardware, etc. New major releases tend to be quite different (and usually better) beasts.
This is an on-topic post.
My friends and I have been doing experiments like this for years!
:-)
Finally modern science has decided to catch up
I'm 17. I've been working in the IT field (a REAL, paying job) for two years now. Therefore when I'll be 1 week from being 20, I'll have 5 years of experience as well. These days I see kids (in high school) even younger trying (and sometimes succeeding) in getting jobs.